This blog complemented the news and articles on wheelchaircurling.com. It was my contribution to the attempt to make curling the winter recreation of choice for Canadian wheelchair users.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Richmond International Day 1

The first of four days of very competitive wheelchair curling began this morning at the Richmond CC as 8 teams started a full round robin to decide who will playoff for the $1,000 1st prize next Saturday. The event, sponsored by the Richmond Committee For Disability (RCD) saw Canada bring their World Champion team, as well as a neophyte Canada II team, while BC, Alberta, Quebec and Manitoba (Cancade) all fielded strong established teams with lots of competitive experience. USA featured only one player from 2010, skip Patrick MacDonald, while a mixture of players from Richmond and Portland (OR) represented the RCD hosts. Canada I crushed Canada II in the opening draw and more significantly took out Bruno Yizek's Alberta 9-3 in Draw II. Gary Cormack's BC were edged 6-3 by Alberta in the opener but rebounded to hand Canada II their second loss, 9-5 in the afternoon. Quebec handled USA 5-1 and blanked RCD 9-0, while Chris Sobkowicz's Cancade team also blanked RCD but were then beaten by USA, 7-4 in Draw 2. Play was generally slow, with most games ending in 6 ends, a couple managing just 5, and only one game lasting 7 ends.Standings after Draw 2Canada I 2 - 0Quebec 2 - 0Alberta 1 - 1BC 1 - 1Cancade 1 - 1USA 1 - 1Canada II 0 - 2RCD 0 - 2